Verena wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 7:23 am Slugs....I've clearly been missing out on something here, never yet encountered one when bivvying....
Apparently there's an anti wrinkle cream made with snail slime, so maybe it's not such a bad thing?

I wonder if that anti-wrinkle cream works? I mean some slugs are covered in wrinkles aren't they?!


Nice to see how this thread has quickly turned to our sluggy friends. I've been woken by one on my nose which was friendly. Also woken by a strange sensation one night - soon found one inside my baselayer, inside my sleeping bag, on my mat, inside my tent; I just had to congratulate him/her on such persistence getting through so many layers. I won't say which area of my baselayer.

Reckon James's slug/raisin story is the best one. Arrrrg.

I can remember reading Slugs by Shaun Hutson when I was a teenager. Essential reading for those bivvying I reckon...

At a business lunch that day in the City Hotel, David Watson tries to secure a new contract with Edward Canning and Kenneth Riggs. David is overcome by a terrible headache until finally blood gushes from one of his nostrils and a long white worm slithers out of it. David falls onto a table dying as another slug bursts out of one of his eyes. A waiter from the restaurant calls the Local Health Inspector.

I was woken by something tickling my lip while bivvying on the IoM with Chew a few years ago. Took me a while to fully come to my senses and eject said slug from the corner of my mouth

It's weird how they turn blue when you accidentally boil one up in your pot

They are horrible little things. In this country we don't have big scary animals, but we do have lots of small annoying ones - slugs, midges, ticks

Sitting here smiling at Steve and James' comments about my lie ins, sorry There are others who've experienced my special skill, it's a rare treat with 3 kids!

I do sometimes try to wake up early when riding with others, but I'm definitely better at resting than riding

Watch where you leave your lid. I was riding along after a bivvy last year when something appeared dangling off the end of my peak. Guess what it was..... I removed it and placed it gently at the trailside. Much as we may hate them they are a valuable food source for lots of critters and birds so don't be too hard on them.

lune ranger wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:22 am I sleep very well outdoors, more so if it’s without my kids or the dog…. But if I’ve ridden particularly hard or long then I have a struggle to get to sleep. Must be all the excess cortisol and what circulating around.

Maybe that's my problem. Harder I ride, less chance of sleep.

htrider wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:02 am Much as we may hate them they are a valuable food source for lots of critters and birds so don't be too hard on them.

A bird's equivalent of finding the free pack of Haribo in the Wiggle order, I'm sure....

....on a related topic, recommendations for nets for under a tarp with a groundsheet to keep the buggers out? I've got the one from Joe's shop but it's a bit snug, only good for the small lady on the trip rather than the big bloke!

on a related topic, recommendations for nets for under a tarp with a groundsheet to keep the buggers out?

I sometimes use a S2S nano net. It doesn't have a groundsheet but can be made snug round whatever you're sleeping on. I've yet to have a slug penetrate the defences.

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:37 pm S2S nano net.... can be made snug..

Seconded. Love mine. Used it this week with Gatewood cape for 2/3 nights. Bad midges one night and they all stayed out. Lot of sheep around and none of them got through either so the net must be pretty strong...... As Stu says, dead easy to tuck under your mat. I've stuck some coloured tags on to show head/foot ends. Also added a mini 'biner which clips quickly onto different points of a length of 0.5mm cord with several knots which I ran down the inside of the cape - this keeps the head end high off your face. Easy enough to hang from a tarp pole too of course. Only 90g as well for full body coverage.

Full on midge apocalypse and I survived under my S2S nano mozzie net (just) I'd welcomed the sluggies actually as they would have hoovered up a few midges

Your apocalypse certainly trumps my pathetic "bad midges" there Phil!

TheBrownDog wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:58 am

jameso wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 10:50 pm Oh yes, slugs - guess how I found one of those small ones in an open bag of chocolate raisins one morning recently?

The same way my dad found one on the back of a hunk of lettuce he'd plucked from his vegie patch?

swap to cabbage instead, (less chewy when cooked.)